This invention relates generally to a jigging system for work pieces and, in particular, to a jigging system for the assembly of wooden trusses for use in building.
The invention relates to an improvement to that disclosed in our Australian Patent No. 694642 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,747), the contents of which are incorporated into this specification by this reference.
Wooden trusses generally comprise a number of wooden components including a bottom chord, upper chords which are generally arranged in a V-shaped configuration, and connecting pieces or webs between the chords. The chords and connecting webs are joined together by metal connector plates which are usually forced into the wooden components at joints between components on both sides of the truss by a suitable press or the like. Conventionally, the components from which the truss are to be made are laid out on a table which has stops (often referred to as pucks) for setting the position of the chords.
The above-mentioned Australian patent discloses an automatic method of moving the stops or pucks to desired locations to set the position of the chords which are to be joined together to form the truss. The formation of the truss from the chords also requires the placement of various tools such as a peak or apex tool and clamp tools in order to define the position of the peak or apex and hold the two chords, which will be joined together to form the apex, in position. Heel tools are also required in order to define the points at which the upper chords will intersect with the bottom chord. The location of these tools is performed manually by locating the tools in position on the table before or after the stops have been automatically moved to define the position of the chords.
The need to manually locate the tools increases the time required in order to set up the jigging system for formation of a truss and therefore the time required in order to actually produce a truss.